Still Need You Around
by lolitarun
Summary: Blaine never would tell Kurt how he had ended up a year behind in school, always just commenting that he had been sick.  But when a routine appointment doesn't go as planned, will Blaine's world be turned upside-down?  Rated for language.
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: And I came up with a new story… it's semi my head canon for why Blaine is a year behind Kurt, semi just the usual randomness that pops up for no reason. Enjoy!**

Kurt hated days when Blaine wasn't at school – they were few and far between, but he was so used to having his boyfriend with him at school that Kurt almost couldn't stand it.

_I miss you already, and it's only been one day_. Kurt sent the text quickly, before his last period French class started so that Blaine would get it in time for the two of them to get together after school.

Kurt didn't really understand why Blaine had to see a doctor in Cleveland; the older boy had explained that he had been sick when he was little, and that was why he was a year behind Kurt in school despite being four months older. But there was never any elaboration about exactly _what_ had been wrong with him, and whenever Kurt asked any questions about Blaine's semi-annual trips to Cleveland the older boy found a way to evade the question and change the subject.

French was over quickly enough, but when Kurt checked his phone there wasn't a message from Blaine. Which was odd, because Blaine was generally good about responding to messages and his appointment had been that morning. Kurt shook it off as he hurried to the choir room for glee rehearsal; for all he knew, Blaine's appointment might have been pushed back or delayed. That happened a lot with specialists, as Kurt had learned from his father's cardiologist appointments – even one unexpected occurrence with a patient could push a doctor's schedule back hours if it was serious enough. Still, Kurt kept his phone in his hand and turned it from silent to vibrate as he waited for Mr. Schue to join them.

"Alright everyone, settle down… we have a lot to do today to prepare for Sectionals in a couple of weeks. Kurt, where's Blaine?" Kurt slid his phone into his pocket quickly, forcing a smile.

"Doctor's appointment… he'll be back tomorrow."

"Everything okay?"

"It's just a check-up. No big deal." Kurt watched as Mr. Schuester nodded, before he started passing out the sheet music they were working on.

"Alright… well, let's get started. We don't have any time to waste."

It wasn't very easy for Kurt to keep his mind on what was going on; Kurt knew that no matter what, Blaine shouldn't have been with the doctor for that long. As soon as Mr. Schuester dismissed the club, Kurt had his phone out of his pocket dialing Blaine's number quickly.

"Hello?" Kurt hadn't expected to hear Blaine's mother on the other end.

"Mrs. Anderson? It's Kurt… can I talk to Blaine?"

The moment of silence that followed his question wasn't what Kurt had expected, and it worried him. "Blaine isn't really in a position to talk right now, Kurt."

"But everything's okay, right? I'm just worried because he didn't respond to my text message earlier, and that's not normal for Blaine…"

"I know, sweetie. We aren't completely sure what's going on just yet… Dr. Kier just wants to run a few more tests before we go, and we'll know more in a couple of days."

"Is he… is he sick again?" Kurt asked. He leaned against a row of lockers, not totally realizing how he had gotten down the hall.

"We don't know anything yet… Dr. Kier is just being a little more thorough than usual because it's been a while since they did a full work-up." Kurt wasn't sure if he believed what Blaine's mother was telling him, but he didn't have any choice but to accept it for the moment.

"Will you have Blaine call me when he's done?"

"Of course, Kurt. I should go… I need to talk to the doctor. I'll have Blaine call you as soon as he can." Kurt sighed when he realized that his boyfriend's mother had hung up on him. The nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach told Kurt that she wasn't telling him everything she knew.

Kurt drove home without his music on, focusing the drive rather than what was going on in Cleveland. There wasn't really anything he could do about Blaine's current situation except wait and see what would happen.

"Everything alright, Kid?" Kurt hadn't even realized that he was just sitting in the front seat of his car with the engine turned off until his father knocked on the window. Kurt shook his head and grabbed his bag to get out of the car.

"Everything's fine, Dad. I'm just a little distracted today."

"Well come inside… Carole's making dinner early tonight so that Finn and Rachel can go to some movie she's been dying to see. And she's making vegetarian tacos." Kurt followed his father into the house, running up the stairs and dropping his messenger bag in his room before he went back downstairs to see if there was anything he could do to help Carole with dinner.

It was almost eight before Kurt heard anything from his boyfriend, but it was just a text message.

_I need to talk to you. Tomorrow morning before school?_

Kurt bit down on his bottom lip as he read the boy's words. That didn't sound good; Blaine would have called him under normal circumstances.

_Yeah, okay. Seven-thirty work?_

Kurt went back to his homework as he waited to hear from Blaine again, but he only got through one paragraph of his history textbook before his phone rang again.

_Yeah… that works. Love you._

_Love you too._


	2. Confessions

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: So I wasn't expecting this chapter to be quite so long… but I started typing and it just sort of happened. Not that it's exceptionally long or anything – it's just a bit longer than my chapters usually are.**

Blaine stood leaning against his car as he waited for Kurt to arrive. He was early; Blaine hadn't been able to sleep the night before, and he'd decided to just go ahead and get ready for school early because he didn't know what else to do with himself. He was still trying to wrap his head around all of the things he had been told by the doctor the day before, all of the potential diagnoses.

"You look like hell." Blaine glanced up at the sound of a voice, a little surprised to see Coach Beiste walking around the parking lot.

"Thanks." Blaine wrapped his coat a little tighter around his body, glancing at the clock on his phone for what felt like the millionth time.

"Something wrong? I don't usually see students hanging around in the parking lot this early…"

"Just waiting on Kurt. He was going to bring me my homework assignments from yesterday." It wasn't exactly difficult for Blaine to lie; he'd had years of experience from trying to cover up so many different things about himself, that lies just sort of rolled off his tongue whenever he needed them.

"At seven-twenty in the morning? Class doesn't start for more than an hour…"

"He's meeting me at seven-thirty. I'm just early. But he was going to go over some of what I missed in our calculus class with me before school." Another lie. Not that the football coach really needed to know his business or that they weren't going to be doing anything homework related. They weren't going to be doing anything they shouldn't be doing, so Blaine really didn't feel bad about the lie. Kurt pulled up on the other side of Blaine's car at that moment, saving him from having to think of anything else to tell Coach Beiste. "I should go talk to Kurt… I really need to keep on top of things."

Blaine climbed into the passenger seat of Kurt's Navigator, leaning over and pressing a soft kiss against the boy's lips. "You look tired…"

"I didn't sleep much last night… I had a lot on my mind." Blaine glanced down at his hand as Kurt took it, squeezing gently.

"Tell me what's going on… that wasn't just a normal check-up yesterday, was it?"

"No… it was supposed to be, but things kind of changed when I got up there." Blaine sighed, shaking his head. "I have to start from the beginning for you to understand. So please, don't be upset with me for not telling you all of this before."

"Why would I be upset with you?"

"Because I never told you _what_ was wrong with me when I was little. And it's kind of big…" Blaine squeezed Kurt's hand for a moment, before he pulled the taller boy's hand up towards the collar of his shirt. He undid the buttons with his free hand, moving Kurt's fingers under his shirt and over towards a small lump just underneath his collarbone. "You asked me what this was once, and I told you that it was just something left over from when I was sick."

"I remember."

"It's a portacath. They need to replace it now…" Blaine began. He felt Kurt's fingers moving away from the bump and back towards Blaine's hand. "They were going to take it out this year."

"My mom had one…" Blaine nodded, squeezing Kurt's hand for a moment.

"It was medulloblastoma… a brain tumor. Malignant. I was eight… I don't really remember much about how they found it. I just remember being sick a lot and having awful headaches. Then one afternoon I woke up in the hospital… I'd fallen down the stairs at home, and when they were checking me for a concussion, they found two tumors. They took them out, and I did chemo and I've been going to the doctor every few months since I went into remission to make sure that everything's okay." Blaine closed his eyes, trying to figure out where to go from there.

"Cancer. You thought I would be mad because you never told me that you'd beaten cancer?" Kurt asked.

"I didn't want to upset you, or make you worry. Not after you told me about your mom…"

"I'm not upset, okay? But I can't help worrying about you… what did they find? What did the doctor say yesterday?" 

"Tumors. The doctor found two new tumors on the CT scan. With my history, they're afraid to wait for a biopsy to come back before they do anything about it. And the tumors weren't there six months ago… they're growing fast." Blaine glanced over at Kurt. The other boy looked more thoughtful than upset, and Blaine wasn't really sure what that meant.

"Okay. So what's the plan? What are they going to do?" Kurt asked. Blaine swallowed, trying to figure out how to tell Kurt what was going on. "Hey… whatever it is, I'm here for you, okay?" Blaine nodded.

"Surgery. First thing Monday morning to remove the tumors. After that, it'll depend on the pathologist's findings."

"Okay. Don't worry about homework… I'll pick up your assignments, and I'll bring them to you as soon as you're feeling up to it. And I'll come see you as much as possible…"

"Kurt, they're doing the surgery in Cleveland…" Blaine began.

"So? I can go to Cleveland on the weekends if you're still up there, and we'll talk every night. It'll just be like things were when you were at Dalton, just until you're out of the hospital…"

"Kurt… if it's cancer, I might have to move back to Cleveland. My dad's still up there, and he said that if we needed to he'd let me and my mom stay with him…" Blaine hated the thought of moving back to Cleveland; he and his father had never really gotten along. The only reason Blaine still believed that his father loved him was because the man had practically insisted that they live with him if they had to come back to Cleveland for treatments, even if he and Blaine's mother were in the process of getting a divorce.

Blaine could tell that Kurt hadn't been expecting that. "But… there are hospitals here in Lima. There are a lot of hospitals that are closer than Cleveland…"

"But my doctor is in Cleveland. And my parents agreed that it would be better to stick with the same doctor as last time because he knows my case and he has all of the notes about which drugs fucked with my system and which ones I had bad reactions to and all of that." Blaine closed his eyes. "I don't want to leave. But I might not have a choice."

"When will you know?"

"I dunno… a week or so after the surgery, I guess. It takes some time for the lab reports to come back. I'll be out of the hospital by the time we know anything official." The two boys sat there in silence for a moment, just holding hands and staring out the windshield as other students pulled into the parking lot.

"Why did you come to school today? You don't even have time to do all of the make-up work before you'll be gone… you should have stayed at home, gotten some rest…"

"I need to explain…" Blaine began.

"Your mom can call. She can tell them what's going on… you don't have to be here…"

"I needed to explain to _you_, Kurt. I needed to tell you what was going on. I couldn't just leave you for that long without knowing that you understood…" Blaine squeezed Kurt's hand again. "I don't care about the school understanding. They could fail me for missing so much school for all I care right now."

"You shouldn't say things like that… once you're back at school, after they've told you you're fine, you'll care." Blaine sighed, fighting back the first set of tears that had started since he'd been told about the tumors.

"Kurt, if this is cancer…" Blaine bit down on his lip. "If it's a relapse, I'm probably not going to make it. The survival rate for a relapse is really low, and the older you are, the worse the numbers get. I'm eighteen…"

"You're going to be fine, Blaine. You shouldn't worry about all of that until you have a real reason to believe you're sick. And I'm not going to believe it until they _say_ the tumors are malignant."

"We should get inside and go to class. I need to talk to my teachers, and I don't want to be late…" Blaine commented, starting to get out of the car. He stopped when Kurt put a hand on his arm.

"Dinner tonight. Come over. I know it's Friday family dinner, but I want you to come, okay?" Blaine nodded, smiling slightly as Kurt leaned over and pressed a soft kiss against his lips.


	3. Unknown

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: I'm kind of surprising myself with how quickly I'm writing these chapters. But don't expect updates to continually come this quickly – I have schoolwork to do that I have to quit procrastinating on!**

School was more difficult than normal for Blaine; he'd had some attention issues his entire school career, but if he had even the slightest reason to worry about something other than school he didn't have a prayer of understanding what was going on in class. And a potential cancer diagnosis was _definitely_ enough of a reason to worry about something other than schoolwork.

"Blaine… can I talk to you?" Blaine sighed as he walked up to Mr. Schuester's desk at the end of his Spanish class.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Schue… I just have a lot on my mind right now…"

"I noticed. Is everything okay?" Blaine shook his head; he wasn't going to lie, especially given the fact that he sort of _had_ to tell his teachers that something was going on.

"Not really. I'm going to be gone for a while… today's my last day here for at least a week or so." Blaine couldn't help but notice the look of concern on the teacher's face. It was the same look he'd gotten from all of his other teachers so far that day. "Kurt is going to get my assignments and bring them to Cleveland for me."

"Cleveland?" Blaine looked at the door, knowing that he was going to be late for his next class if he stopped to explain everything to the choir director. "I'll write you a note for your next class if you need it. I don't have a class next period, if you'd like to talk…"

"I just… I haven't told anyone but Kurt the whole story. I… I was diagnosed with cancer when I was little. Medulloblastoma. I had to go back to the doctor yesterday for a check-up, and they found a couple of tumors on my brain. I'm having surgery Monday morning to have them removed… if it's not cancer, I'll be back at school in a week or so. If it is, my mom and I will have to stay in Cleveland while I go through chemo and radiation…"

"Blaine… I'm so sorry…" Mr. Schuester replied. Blaine smiled slightly as he felt the weight of the man's hand on his shoulder. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Just… can you just not tell anyone? I don't want the whole world to know that something's wrong until I know for sure what's going on. It might be nothing…" Blaine began.

"I understand. I'll make sure Kurt gets your assignments… but don't worry too much about homework right now, okay? Take care of yourself."

"Thanks, Mr. Schue."

"No problem. Let me write you a note for your next class… unless you'd rather talk to Miss Pillsbury?" Blaine shook his head sighing and hiking his bag a little higher onto his shoulder.

"I'm okay… it still hasn't completely sunk in yet that I might be sick. Again." Blaine took the hall pass from the choir director's hand.

"You have my phone number if you need anything. I can get you in touch with Miss Pillsbury if you decide you need to talk to someone. Or someone else, if you'd rather." Blaine nodded.

"Thanks, Mr. Schue."

* * *

><p>Blaine slid into his usual parking spot behind Kurt's Navigator. He'd already texted his mother to let her know that he was going to spend the afternoon with Kurt and his family and that he would be home after dinner. He didn't think she was completely okay with the fact that he wasn't going to be home, but she'd said it was okay as long as he came home before curfew.<p>

The house was empty, as usual. Finn had to stay at school for football practice until almost dinnertime because of the game the next night, and Burt and Carole were at work until five. "You okay?" Kurt asked, reaching out for Blaine's hand as they walked into the living area.

"Yeah, just kind of tired," Blaine replied. He smiled as Kurt pulled him towards the couch and sat down.

"Come on… lay down here with me." Kurt gently pulled Blaine so that they were both lying across the couch, with Kurt's arms wrapped around Blaine. "Comfortable?"

"Yeah, I am. You?"

"I wouldn't have pulled you into this position if it wasn't comfortable for me," Kurt replied. Blaine could hear the smile in the boy's voice and smiled slightly as Kurt pressed a kiss against his forehead. "Just relax… you can go to sleep if you'd like. I'll wake you up in time for dinner."

"I don't want to sleep. I want to spend time with you while I have the chance, before I have to leave for Cleveland tomorrow."

"You're leaving tomorrow?" Kurt asked. Blaine nodded, opening his eyes. He could see the pain in Kurt's eyes.

"I'm supposed to check into the hospital Sunday afternoon, and my dad wants to spend some time with us before that. I'm going to pack up in the morning and we're going to get up there for a late lunch with him."

"I didn't realize you would be leaving so soon…" Blaine took Kurt's hand and intertwined their fingers.

"It's not like I'm leaving forever… my mom and I are going to come back to Lima as soon as they clear me to make the drive, and we aren't going to move back to Cleveland, even temporarily, if we don't have to. My parents won't survive living in the same house together for more than a week or so… there's a reason they're divorced." Blaine leaned in and pressed a kiss against Kurt's lips. "I promise you, I'm going to call you every day that I can. As long as I'm not too drugged up to talk to you, I'll call. And my mom said that she would answer your calls if you wanted to check on me and I couldn't talk to you."

"You already talked that out with your mother?" Kurt asked. Blaine nodded.

"I wanted to know that they would tell you everything… she promised me she would let you know anything you wanted to know. I didn't want you to be left in the dark if you wanted to know what was going on."

"I want to know everything, Blaine. I want to know that you're okay… I _need_ to know that you're okay while you're gone." Blaine nodded, smiling.

"You know I love you, right?"

"Of course. I love you too, Blaine."

"Whatever this is, I'm fighting it for you. You're my reason to fight… you're the best thing that's ever happened to me." Blaine watched as Kurt shook his head. He could tell that the other boy was fighting back tears.

"Please don't talk like that… like you're sick. You don't know that you're sick, not yet…"

"But I have to be prepared. Whether it's cancer or not, it's not good… and I'll _always_ have to worry about more tumors and relapses. And other cancers caused by the treatments… this is just the first time this has happened, and even if it isn't cancer this will probably happen again…" Blaine let his voice trail off, knowing that they were both going to be upset if he continued. He didn't _want_ to make Kurt sad, but the boy needed to know what he was getting himself into, being with Blaine.

"And we can worry about all of those things as they come up. But I think that for now we should hope for the best… even the doctor said it isn't for sure that the tumors are cancer, right?"

"Right… but with my history, it's not likely that they're benign." Blaine closed his eyes as Kurt leaned in and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

"Let's just not talk about it, okay? Let's just be happy and hang out while we have this chance."


	4. Dinner Conversation

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: This chapter wasn't easy to write, because I had some trouble figuring out what I wanted to show you and what wasn't necessary. But I'm pretty happy with this chapter.**

Dinner wasn't anything big; usually Friday night family dinners were pretty laid-back in the Hudson-Hummel household, and despite the obvious worry on Blaine and Kurt's faces things didn't seem to be any different. "How was school?" Burt asked. Blaine tuned out Finn's response to the question, playing around with his food instead of eating it. He wasn't all that hungry.

"Blaine, something wrong with the meatloaf?" It wasn't until Kurt poked him, hard, that he realized anyone had said anything to him.

"Huh? Sorry… what was the question?" Blaine asked, looking up.

"I asked if something was wrong with the meatloaf… you haven't really been eating it." Blaine shook his head, sighing.

"Sorry… nothing's wrong with the meatloaf. I'm just not all that hungry today." Blaine felt Kurt grab his hand and squeeze it.

"You're not coming down with something, are you? You look a little pale," Carole replied, standing up and pressing a hand to his forehead. "You're not running a fever… but you're welcome to stay in the guest room if you don't feel like driving home tonight."

"I have to get home after dinner… my mom and I are going to Cleveland tomorrow morning to see my dad," Blaine replied. The conversation turned to other subjects for a little while, and Blaine did his best to eat some more of his dinner.

"So Kurt, I didn't get a chance to ask you why you left so early this morning… you didn't get into any kind of trouble at school, did you?" Burt asked. Blaine turned and looked at his boyfriend, wondering exactly how much Kurt was going to answer of that question. But Kurt seemed to be looking at him, as if he was asking how much Blaine was willing to share with his family.

"He was meeting me at school early… I missed yesterday for a doctor's appointment, and Kurt picked up my homework assignments for me," Blaine replied. It wasn't a complete lie – Kurt had actually gotten Blaine's homework and given it to him that morning before school.

"We wanted to talk and hang out for a while, too," Kurt added, almost as if he wanted to protect Blaine from having to tell Kurt's family that he might be sick before he knew for sure.

"It's okay, Kurt… I don't care if your family knows." Blaine whispered the words, leaning over towards his boyfriend and closing his eyes. "I might be sick… really sick. It's going to be a week or so before we know anything for sure. I asked Kurt to meet me at school early so I could tell him what was going on in person. I didn't want to tell him over the phone or let him find out from someone else that I wasn't going to be at school for a while…"

"What do they think you have?"

"I have two brain tumors… it might be cancer. Again." Blaine felt Kurt letting go of his hand and wrapping an arm around his waist. He could feel the tension in the room. "I've been in remission for eight years. They're taking the tumors out Monday morning, and it'll take some time for the lab reports to come back and know whether it's cancer or not." Blaine looked up when he was done talking, not at all surprised to see that Burt, Carole, and Finn were all staring at one another in shock. "I didn't want to say anything about having been sick… I know Kurt's mom passed away from cancer, and I didn't want anyone to worry unnecessarily."

"Kid, there's no such thing as worrying unnecessarily in a situation like this… it's serious." Blaine nodded at Burt's words, knowing that the man was probably right. It had just seemed like a good idea to protect everyone else by not giving them any reason to worry about him.

"I know. I'd just been in remission for so long… they thought I was cured. And I honestly just didn't want you all to worry about my health or anything. This is the first time they've had any reason to worry since I went into remission…" Blaine sighed. "I just…"

"You don't have to explain, Blaine. Let's just finish our dinner," Carole interrupted. The rest of the meal was spent in awkward silence, with only the sound of silverware clanking against plates. Finally everyone was done eating.

"I think I'm going to go get started on my homework…" Finn said, getting up and taking his plate into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry…" Blaine began.

"You don't have anything to apologize for. No one is mad at you, it was just kind of a shock," Burt commented. "After what happened with Kurt's mother, it's kind of hard for me to deal with the thought of someone I care about having cancer."

"It's not cancer for sure… the tumors could be benign, it could be nothing," Kurt commented.

"They could be… but it seems like a pretty aggressive treatment to be operating without completely knowing what's going on," Burt replied.

"They're only being aggressive because of Blaine's history of cancer… they don't want to risk it getting worse if it is cancer, right?" Blaine nodded as Kurt made his comment. That was his understanding of things.

"You should probably go ahead and head home, Blaine. You probably still need to pack, and you definitely need to make sure you're getting plenty of rest." Blaine nodded at Burt's instructions, knowing the man was right. "Carole, I'll help you with the dishes tonight so that Kurt and Blaine can have a few more minutes to talk." Blaine and Kurt got up, with Kurt holding Blaine's hand as they walked towards the front porch. Kurt led him over to the swing and they both sat down.

"Are you okay with my dad and everybody knowing?" Blaine smiled as Kurt reached a hand up to play with Blaine's curls.

"You know that you aren't going to be able to do that for a while after Monday, right?"

"They'll shave it all?" Blaine nodded. "So, are you going to answer my original question or not? "

"It's probably better that they know. I told Mr. Schue… he's going to take care of letting everyone in glee know what's going on on Monday. I just… I still don't know that I want everyone to know that I might be sick. The stares are going to be bad enough just because I'm going to be bald for a while…"

"Do you really think it will be that bad?" Kurt asked.

"Kids are cruel, Kurt… when I was little, they stared and called me names. Even after the teachers explained that I was sick, they still didn't stop…"

"I think high schoolers are a bit more mature than that. Besides, I think everyone will be worried about your health… I mean, most people our age will actually understand what's going on." Blaine nodded. "Besides, I'll make sure you always have a nice hat to wear. It's probably going to start getting cold before your hair grows back, anyway." Blaine smiled.

"You take such good care of me… what did I do to deserve you?"

"You didn't have to do anything to deserve me. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me… I should be wondering what _I_ did to deserve _you_." Blaine smiled, reaching over and squeezing Kurt's hand.

"I love you."

"I love you, too. And I'm going to be calling and texting you as much as possible while you're gone. I want to know everything that's going on."

"You'll know everything. My mom already promised," Blaine replied. He leaned over and pressed a kiss against his boyfriend's lips. "I should go." The two boys sat there for a moment, their faces almost close enough to kiss and their foreheads pressed against each other until they finally stood up, Kurt walking Blaine to his car.

"I'm going to miss you."

"Same."

"Get better fast, okay? I don't know how long I can stand to be here without you."


	5. Hospital Visits

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: Taking a break from studying to finish writing this and post it. Enjoy!**

Kurt knew that his father really wasn't all that happy about his decision to drive to Cleveland by himself, but after four days of only talking to Blaine and his mother over the phone Kurt was ready to be able to hold his boyfriend's hand and actually be with him. From their conversations, it had sounded like everything was okay but Kurt still really wanted to actually see the boy with his own eyes. Especially given the fact that Blaine was still in the hospital, despite the fact that Blaine's description had sounded like he would be out of the hospital by the end of the week. According to Blaine's mother it was just a bad reaction to the anesthesia, but Kurt didn't understand enough of the medical lingo to be certain what any of it meant until he saw it for himself.

Kurt dialed his father's cell phone number quickly as he put his car into park. "Hey, Dad, I made it to the hospital in Cleveland. I'll call you before I leave to come home." Kurt quickly hung up on the man's voicemail, getting out of the car and making his way up to Blaine's room on the fourth floor – the boy's mother had given Kurt the room number, and it was easy enough to find once he was up there. Kurt knocked softly, hoping that he wouldn't wake Blaine up if he was sleeping. He smiled at the small Filipino woman that answered the door.

"It's good to see you, Kurt… come on in."

"Blaine isn't sleeping, is he? I don't want to wake him up…"

"He should be waking up before long… his medication should be wearing off soon, and the hives haven't completely cleared up yet. Poor thing's skin itches like crazy when the antihistamine wears off."

"Do they know what caused it?" Kurt asked.

"They put him on a different anticonvulsant this time around, and he had an allergic reaction to this one."

"Anticonvulsant? He didn't have a seizure or anything, did he?" Kurt couldn't help the worried tone in his voice.

"No, no… it's standard procedure after this kind of surgery. They just want to make sure that he won't have any seizures." Kurt nodded, knowing that it must make sense if Blaine's doctors were putting him on that type of medication.

"Mom?" Kurt bit down on his bottom lip at the sound of Blaine's voice. The boy sounded so tired…

"I'm right here, sweetie. I was just letting Kurt in," Mrs. Anderson commented. Kurt followed her in, smiling at his boyfriend as he walked over to the bed and pressed a soft kiss against the older boy's forehead below the bandage covering the incision.

"How are you feeling?" Kurt asked, reaching down and taking hold of Blaine's hand. He purposely ignored looking at the raised red rash on the boy's arms and neck.

"Tired. Kind of itchy. And my head's starting to hurt a little."

"I'll go talk to the nurse and see what she can do about all of that." Kurt smiled as Blaine's mother kissed the boy before she walked out of the room.

"I'm sorry you have to see me like this… I wanted to at least be at my dad's house before you drove down here this weekend," Blaine commented.

"I'm just glad that it's nothing major keeping you here. Although I'm sure you would be more comfortable if you weren't in the hospital."

"He'll be going home soon enough. That rash has already cleared up a lot… he won't be itching for much longer. And if things keep going as well as they have been since we got the medication issue worked out, I think it's safe to say that he'll be going home tomorrow or Sunday." Kurt looked up at the man that had walked in unannounced. "I'm Dr. Kier… you must be Kurt."

"It's nice to meet you. And I have to say, I'm glad to hear that. I'm ready to have Blaine back in Lima."

"Well, hopefully we'll have good news in a few days."

"Blaine's mom said you didn't think it was medulloblastoma again… that it didn't look quite right?"

"The tumors weren't typical of medulloblastoma, no. Based on appearances they looked like ependymomas, but we won't know for sure until the pathology report comes back. And even if I'm right, they could still be malignant… which is part of the reason I want Blaine in Cleveland until we know exactly what we're dealing with. If we're dealing with cancer again, I'd want to get him into treatment as soon as possible. And even if this isn't cancer, it could still be serious." Kurt nodded, understanding what the doctor meant.

"I just wish there was some way to know more. The waiting is kind of maddening…" Kurt began.

"Imagine how I feel." Kurt turned and smiled at Blaine, taking the boy's other hand to stop him from scratching at the rash on his arms. "It itches…"

"Scratching isn't going to help… you're just going to make things worse."

"It's a temporary relief…" Blaine began. Kurt smiled at his pouting boyfriend and leaned in to kiss him again.

"But your mom is getting a nurse to bring you something that will help make it go away for longer. You just need to be patient for a little while longer." Kurt was glad that it really only was a little while – Blaine's mother returned with a nurse almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth. Kurt was forced to let go of Blaine's hands so that the boy could take all of the medication that she brought with her, but he was too distracted by making sure that Blaine didn't scratch himself to notice that the doctor and Blaine's mother had left the room. As soon as he was done, Kurt took Blaine's hands again.

"You don't have to do that. I'm not going to scratch…"

"Maybe I'm holding your hands because I want to," Kurt replied. "You should get some rest."

"I don't want to get some rest… I've done pretty much nothing but sleep since I got here, and I want to spend time with you. And I also want to get the hell out of this room."

"Are you…?" Kurt began.

"He's supposed to get up and walk around some. Just don't leave this floor without telling the nurses where you're going," Blaine's mother responded, before Kurt even had a chance to finish the question. Kurt nodded, smiling as his boyfriend started to get up out of the bed. Kurt was just glad that the boy wasn't forced to wear one of those embarrassing hospital gowns. Other than the fact that he was slightly pale and his head was still bandaged, Blaine didn't even really look like he belonged in the hospital. Kurt took Blaine's hand, smiling at his boyfriend.

"There's a lobby down that way," Blaine said, nodding in one direction. "Or there's always the cafeteria downstairs, if you're hungry. Or…" Blaine trailed off without finishing his sentence, despite the fact that Kurt still hadn't said a word.

"Or what?"

"Or we could go upstairs… some of the nurses that were here when I was sick still work up there."

"Have you been to see them yet?" Kurt asked, curious. He wasn't going to force Blaine to go up there if he didn't want to – that was asking too much. But he had nothing against going upstairs. 

"My mom thinks it's too morbid up there. My dad used to take me every once in a while, but it's been a couple of years…" Kurt nodded, directing Blaine to the elevator.

"Well, then, let's go visit." Kurt wasn't all that surprised when Blaine stopped moving.

"Are you sure? It's not the happiest place…"

"Blaine, it's a hospital. It's not going to be happy all the time. Most of the time it isn't good news when someone ends up here. Besides, I'd like to know the people taking care of you… just in case I have to come visit you here again. I want to know that they care about what they do to make sure they do their job right…" Kurt squeezed Blaine's hand.

"It sounds like you're finally accepting the fact that I might be sick," Blaine commented as the elevator dinged to signal it had arrived at their floor.

"I've spent the past week thinking about it and worrying about you and all that jazz… it's about time I got to that point," Kurt replied. "Besides, now I'm thinking of it like it could be a good thing… the earlier they catch things like this, the better your chances are of beating it. If it is something bad, it has to be in the early stages."

"It's a little more complicated than that, Kurt…"

"I know it isn't that straightforward, but that's the general idea, anyway. And you're strong... last year, you were the only Warbler that didn't end up with the flu after Jeff didn't cancel his birthday party even though he was sick." Kurt squeezed Blaine's hand, smiling at him as the shorter boy chose a floor for their walk.

"That may be so, but this is a lot worse than the flu." Kurt sighed, knowing that it wasn't going to be easy to get Blaine to believe that things might be okay without hearing something back from the doctor first.


	6. I Love You

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: And another chapter. Sorry that things are getting further and further apart; I've started writing original drabbles for my friends to read as well, and I'm kind of in love with Ben and James. I think they're the most adorably in-love gay couple I've ever written.**

Blaine smiled as he woke up, realizing that Kurt was in the bed with him and their arms were wrapped around each other. It was even more special because no one had woken them up and made Kurt move away like they had the previous night in the hospital. It was nice to be at home, even if Blaine didn't technically live there anymore. "You're awake."

"Yeah… you haven't been up long, have you?" Blaine asked, moving back a little so that he didn't have to cross his eyes to look at his boyfriend.

"No… I just woke up a couple of minutes ago. I didn't want to move and wake you up, so I've just been watching you sleep."

"That's only slightly creepy," Blaine joked, leaning in for a soft kiss. "So, what do you want to do today?"

"I thought the plan was movie marathon until I have to go back to Lima this afternoon… you know, since you're supposed to be resting."

"Resting is overrated… we have all of Cleveland out there to do whatever we want…"

"And what I want is for you to follow doctor's orders so that you don't make yourself really sick. The faster you get better, the faster you get to come back to Lima and school and me," Kurt replied. Blaine sighed.

"Kurt…"

"I'm not getting my hopes up too high. But I'm not going to just assume that you have cancer, Blaine… I lost my mom, and I don't even want to think that I might lose you like that unless I have to."

"I know you don't want to think about it, but it's a possibility that we need to be ready for, Kurt…" Blaine closed his eyes as Kurt leaned in and gave him a soft kiss. "I just don't want you to be too surprised if it comes down to that. I'm trying to prepare myself for what's coming…" Blaine watched as the other boy sighed.

"I'm sorry… I didn't think about that. I was just trying to keep you thinking positive, and I didn't think about the fact that you might be trying to not get your hopes up." Blaine closed his eyes and sighed, smiling slightly and taking Kurt's hand. He laced their fingers together.

"I'm sorry… this is just so hard…"

"I know. Let's talk about something else, please… I just need to get my mind off of all of this. Every time I start thinking about all of this, I just start breaking down… it doesn't even really matter whether or not I'm physically strong enough to fight this, Kurt, because I don't think I can mentally deal with being sick again…"

"Baby… you are _so strong_. I believe in you…" Kurt began.

"As much as I appreciate it, Kurt… I just can't deal with all of this. It's too much change too fast. I could handle moving to Lima and transferring to McKinley and all of that… but I was just starting to get comfortable with my life again and this has fucked everything up. Even if I'm not sick, it's still going to be weeks before things are normal again."

Blaine opened his eyes and looked at Kurt, who was clearly starting to tear up. "Please don't cry, Kurt…"

"I'm sorry. We shouldn't talk about this at all. I'm supposed to be here to make you feel better and to take care of you… not the other way around." Blaine watched as Kurt wiped away the tears and started to get up. "Come on… I'll make us some omelets for breakfast and then we can start watching the rest of the movies I brought."

"Just give me a minute, okay? I'll meet you down there." Blaine watched as his boyfriend nodded, leaving the room to go downstairs. He just needed a minute alone; no matter how much Blaine loved Kurt and wanted to be with him, sometimes he just needed to process things without other people around to distract him.

"You still look exhausted. Where's Kurt?" Blaine looked up at the doorway, sighing at the sight of his father.

"He went downstairs to make something to eat." Blaine started to get up as his father walked into the room and sat down on the side of his bed.

"I want to make something clear, Blaine… I don't approve of Kurt sleeping in here with that door closed. I know you two haven't been doing anything this time, but in the future this door stays open if the two of you are in this room by yourselves. And I want you to follow the same rules at your mother's house and at Kurt's… I don't want the two of you having sex. Not as teenagers."

"I have no intention of having sex with Kurt, Dad. Not any time soon. He's not ready for that, and I'm not going to push him into anything," Blaine replied. He stood up. "I should go downstairs and be with Kurt, while I still have a chance. He has to go home this afternoon and the whole point in Kurt being here is to spend time with me."

"Just remember what I said. You don't need to get that invested in a high school relationship."

"You realize that it's possible to get invested in a high school relationship without having sex, right? I'm in love with Kurt, and we've never done anything beyond making out. Telling me not to have sex with him isn't going to stop me from falling for a guy… because if that's what you want, you're too late."

Blaine didn't wait to hear his father's response, and he walked down on to the kitchen as quickly as he could without making his head hurt. Kurt was busy stirring the eggs to make omelets when Blaine walked in and sat down at one of the island bar stools. "I couldn't find anything but cheese to put in the omelets… your dad's fridge is kind of bare."

"My mom hasn't exactly had a chance to go to the grocery store. She pretty much lives at the hospital every time I'm admitted," Blaine commented.

"You say that as though it happens a lot…"

"Let's see… one battle with cancer, appendicitis a year and a half later, pneumonia a couple of times. It happens more than it probably should. It drove my dad crazy when she wouldn't leave me for more than a couple of minutes… part of why they ended up splitting up. They're only avoiding fighting for my sake right now."

"They fought a lot?" Kurt asked. Blaine nodded silently, not thinking about the fact that his boyfriend wasn't looking at him.

"Things got a lot better when they divorced. I didn't realize how shitty things were at home until after my mom and I moved out… it was like night and day. Sometimes I feel like my dad resented me because I got so much of my mom's attention when I was sick." Blaine avoided looking at Kurt as he spoke. It was awkward to say those things about people who were just in a different part of the same house.

"Blaine…"

"I didn't talk about it because it's not worth thinking about. It's over. They get along a lot better now… they don't fight. They just worry about me, try in their own ways to make sure that I'm okay. It's… it's weird. It's so different than how things were after I finally went into remission and they didn't feel like they had to act like I was fragile anymore."

Blaine wasn't really expecting Kurt to wrap his arms quite so tightly around his shoulders, but he liked the feeling and he wrapped his own arms around Kurt's waist. "Promise me we'll never be like that. That if we start to fight like that, we'll either work through it or end things. Because I can't deal with our relationship falling apart the way theirs did," Blaine replied.

"We aren't going to be like them, Blaine… I love you too much to ever hurt you like that." Blaine smiled slightly, leaning in to kiss Kurt again.

"I love you, too."


	7. Answers and Questions

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: So, are you excited? Well, you should be… I updated BOTH of my active stories today AND you're about to get some long-awaited answers. Well, sort of anyway. I don't promise definitiveness, but I do promise that at least some of your curiosity shall be satisfied if you will simply read on…**

Kurt couldn't help but continually check his phone, praying for a text message from Blaine with the news. He'd worn a pair of jeans that were a little loose on purpose, so that he could get away with hiding his phone in one of his front pockets so that it would vibrate against his hip whenever he got a message. Kurt definitely didn't want to miss a message today, given the fact that his boyfriend was about to find out exactly how bad things were. Cancer or not, brain tumors weren't a good thing. And Blaine had just had two of them removed.

It was ridiculous, really. Blaine's appointment wasn't until one, and Kurt had started watching his phone at ten. Now it was almost one-thirty, and Kurt was starting to worry. Which was still at least a little ridiculous, given the fact that doctors were almost always running late for their appointments and thirty minutes really wasn't _that_ long to wait. Still, Kurt kept sliding his hand against the outline of his phone, thinking that it was vibrating because he wanted it to so badly.

French class wasn't that intellectually taxing for Kurt. Dalton's French classes had been much harder, and he was so far ahead of his classmates it was a little ridiculous that he still had to sit through all of it. Usually, Kurt had the homework assignment for the next day done by the time class ended because he was so bored and it was so ridiculously easy for him. Today's lesson was particularly difficult to focus on – their third day in a row studying one of the past tenses that most people who spoke French as their first language didn't even really use all that much and that was therefore essentially useless unless you planned on living becoming some kind of scholar in the language.

Kurt's hand shot up in the air as he felt his phone vibrate, almost as if it was a reflex. He hadn't even really thought about what he was going to do once the phone did actually vibrate, so he asked the first question that came to mind. "_Madame, __est-ce que je peux aller à la salle de bains?_"

"_Oui._"

Kurt jumped up and hurried to the bathroom, slipping into one of the stalls and locking it so that he could check his phone without being interrupted. It was a text from Blaine, and Kurt's hands were shaking as he unlocked his phone and tapped the screen to see the message. He nearly dropped it more than once as he tried to decipher what Blaine had said.

"Oh, thank God…" Kurt muttered, reading the message through three times to make sure he understood.

_Not cancer. Doing some genetic tests, but Dr. says it's good news._

Kurt brushed away the tears of joy that had started to slide down his face, taking a few deep breaths and trying his best to calm down enough to go back to class. He could barely contain himself as he walked out of the stall without thinking about it, typing a message back to Blaine.

_Thank God… I'll talk to you after school. 143._

"Important text message conversation?" Kurt looked up at the sound of Finn's voice. "Is it Blaine? Is he okay?"

"He's good. It's not cancer… no details yet, but it isn't cancer." Kurt smiled. "It isn't cancer… I'm still trying to process that this is real."

"Wait… so if it's not cancer, why did they have to cut his head open and take the tumors out? I thought they only did that if it was really bad…" Finn began.

"He had cancer before, Finn… they wanted to be sure, and they didn't want to wait for biopsy results to come back just in case it _was_ cancer. His medical history made it necessary…"

"So they have to operate on him every time he has a tumor or anything like that?"

"Basically, yeah. They think it's less dangerous for him to have surgery than to watch and wait with a tumor." Kurt took a deep breath. "I should get back to class… _Madame_ is going to get suspicious if I'm gone much longer."

"Yeah… I should do what I came to do." Kurt started towards the door. "Oh, and Kurt? Tell Blaine I'm glad he's okay… 'cause I would hate to kick a sick guy's ass at Madden."

"Just keep telling yourself that you would beat him… we both know that you've never managed it without cheating," Kurt replied with a smirk.

* * *

><p>Kurt had expected to have to call Blaine when he got out of glee rehearsal, so it had surprised him to get a phone call from the boy as he was walking out to his car.<p>

"Hey… so, tell me everything." Kurt didn't even bother with trying to exchange pleasantries with the boy. He wanted to know what was going on – everything else could wait.

"_Why don't I just tell you in person?_" Kurt raised an eyebrow at the suggestion, wondering why the older boy didn't want to talk on the phone. "_Seriously, I'll tell you in person. Just keep walking this direction._"

"Blaine, what the hell are you talking about? Aren't you still in Cleveland?"

"_My mom wanted to get away from my dad as fast as possible… as soon as the doctor cleared me to travel, we drove back. I'm standing by your car right now waiting for you._"

"You're what?" Kurt started towards his car at a full run, coming around the far side to find Blaine laughing at him.

"Are you really that excited to see me?"

"What are you doing here, Blaine? You should be resting… how long have you been standing here? Let me open the car so you can sit down…"

"Kurt, slow down… I'm fine, my mom dropped me off a couple of minutes ago and I told her I would get a ride home with you." Kurt finally stopped, taking a deep breath and taking in the sight of his boyfriend. He looked a little strange in a beanie with no hair poking out from underneath, and Blaine was wearing his glasses instead of his contacts. Kurt knew that the boy had taken to wearing them instead because he was sleeping so much of the time and he couldn't very well take his contacts out and put them back in again five or six times a day.

"Are you cold? What's with the hat?" Kurt asked, a little confused. It was cool, of course, but not really cold yet.

"Kurt, I'm pretty much bald under here… it takes some time for hair to grow back."

"Right. I forgot about that part." Kurt smiled, finally realizing that he hadn't even touched Blaine yet. He leaned in and pressed a soft kiss against Blaine's lips, taking the boy's hands. "Okay… I want to know everything the doctor said. Why don't you tell me on the way to whichever house we're going to."

"My mom's boyfriend is supposed to come over this afternoon… I was kind of hoping we might go to your house, give them some alone time," Blaine replied. Kurt nodded, smiling.

"Okay. I'm sure we'll have enough food for you to eat dinner with us. Are you on any medication? Do you have it with you?" Kurt asked.

"Kurt, I hate to break it to you, but I'm a big boy. And I already thought of all of that before I even got my mom to drop me off." Kurt looked down as Blaine patted the leather of his messenger bag. "Quit worrying so much and let's go… my mom is expecting me at home by curfew, and I'd like to spend some time with you _without_ Finn and your parents."

The two boys got into the car quickly, and Kurt immediately reached out to take Blaine's hand. It was nice to be able to just hold hands; even though it had only been one day, Kurt had been so worried that he wouldn't get to do this again that it was wonderful. "Okay, now we're in the car. I want you to tell me everything."

"The tumors weren't malignant… right now they don't know exactly what caused them, which is why they were doing the genetic tests. It's going to take a while for those to come back, so we still don't really know anything."

"But they do at least suspect something, right?" Kurt couldn't watch Blaine as he spoke, but he felt Blaine's hand tighten its grip on his own.

"Neurofibromatosis was brought up… if it's that, there will be more tumors and more surgeries. And I'll probably end up losing at least some of my hearing before I'm twenty…"

"But you don't know that it's that for sure…"

"But it's the most likely answer. And honestly, Kurt, if it's an answer then I'll be happy with it. I just want to know what's going on and what we have to do about it so that I can get on with my life already."

"You would be happy with being sick for the rest of your life? Of having even more doctor's visits and surgeries?"

"It's not an illness… it's a genetic disorder. And I might not be happy with it, but I could deal with it."


	8. Back to School

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: And another new chapter. I've been working on writing various things all day (accidentally skipped class… whoops), so hopefully I'll have lots to upload here and post on Tumblr…**

Walking into school was awkward on Monday morning. Blaine had been gone for two weeks without explanation, and he knew that everyone was going to stare at him. He did have some of his hair back, but the little brown spikes weren't enough to cover the scars and so his mother had worked it out with the school so that he could keep wearing a hat during his classes – yet another reason people would stare.

"You look nervous." Blaine smiled at Kurt, sighing.

"I look like a freak… everyone is going to stare at me. All day."

"It's not going to be that bad… most people will probably ignore you. Besides, all of the guys in glee are going to be watching out for you for the next few days and if anyone bothers you, all you have to do is tell us and it'll be taken care of," Kurt replied.

"That's supposed to make me feel better? Because I know Puck's been to juvie… he could end up back there if he gets involved in 'taking care of it.'"

"Okay, so we won't tell Puck about it. It's going to be fine, Blaine. Trust me." Blaine sighed as they walked up to the door of his first class. "I'll see you at lunch, okay? And like your mom said, call her if you don't feel well… don't tough it out." Blaine rolled his eyes, smiling slightly.

"Yes, mother." Blaine gave Kurt a quick hug before he walked into the classroom, pulling out a folder full of make-up work.

Blaine's morning classes went by fairly quickly – he spent most of the time trying frantically to keep up with what was going on and figure out how it connected to what he had been trying to do at home with all of the things his teachers had sent for him to work on while he was out of school. By the time lunch came around, Blaine was already exhausted.

"You look tired, Prep School…" Santana commented as she slid into the lunch line behind him. "You okay?"

"Just a little stressed out… I've been trying to keep up in class, but I'm missing some things. It's tiring." Blaine got his food and paid for it before he walked out to the glee club's usual table, sitting down next to Kurt and starting to eat his lunch. Kurt's hand was on his shoulder almost immediately, a silent question as it moved down his back slightly. "I'm fine…it's just a little more tiring than I expected."

"Maybe you should go home, get some rest… it's probably not good for you to tire yourself out," Kurt commented.

"I know… I would just really like to finish the day, at least stick around until classes are done. It's only another couple of hours…"

"It's two and a half hours. You've only been here four and a half, and you're already this tired. Do you really think you're going to last the rest of the afternoon?"

"I'm going to try… I have Spanish with Mr. Schue next period, if it's too much I'll ask to go to the nurse," Blaine replied with a smile as he ate his lunch.

The conversation at the lunch table was pretty much the same as usual – gossip, boring rants about classes, random comments about the things on television the previous night. Blaine mostly listened to what was going on, doing his best to stay awake and not make it obvious that he was exhausted. Finally the bell rang, and everyone got up and started cleaning up their trays.

"Come on, I'll walk you," Kurt commented, reaching out and taking Blaine's hand. Blaine's automatic response was to pull away from Kurt, but he sighed and shook his head.

"I'm sorry…"

"I know… I shouldn't have taken your hand like that. _I'm_ the one that should be sorry, not you." Blaine reached down and took Kurt's hand again, squeezing it slightly as they walked down the hallway. He didn't think about where they were headed until Kurt stopped right outside the nurse's office.

"Kurt… I'm fine."

"You were fighting sleep all lunch period. And I _know_ you were, so don't even try to deny that you're exhausted."

"I want to go to class…" Blaine began.

"And I'm not going anywhere until you go in that office and have the nurse call your mother to come pick you up." Blaine sighed, letting go of Kurt's hand and starting to walk towards his Spanish class by himself.

"Then have fun hanging out here… I have to get to Spanish." Blaine knew that Kurt would follow him.

"Blaine… please, just go get some rest. Go take a nap during Spanish at least. Mr. Schuester will understand, he knows what's going on."

"And I'll get him to send me to the nurse if I need to go home. Like you just said, Mr. Schue will understand."

"You are so incredibly frustrating…" Kurt began as they walked up to the Spanish classroom.

"You know you love me. But you should get to class… I don't want you to get in trouble because you were trying to get me to go home."

Blaine dropped off the folder full of make-up work on Mr. Schuester's desk before he started towards his seat. "Blaine, wait a minute." Blaine walked back over towards the desk, hands in his pockets. "You doing okay? You look like you don't feel that well…"

"I'm just tired… it's taking a little more out of me than I thought it would."

"Maybe you should go home, get some more rest…"

"I'm fine, Mr. Schue… I've already missed two weeks of school…"

"And a couple more classes won't hurt. You need to take care of yourself… get plenty of rest, take it easy for a while," Mr. Schuester replied. Blaine sighed.

"I'm just trying to get back on track, Mr. Schue."

"I know that you want to get back to normal, but you really need to make sure you take care of yourself. You can't get back to normal if you try to jump into things too quickly." Blaine nodded, sighing.

"I understand. But I really don't want to miss classes any more…"

"Go have a seat. But if I see you start to fall asleep, I'm sending you to the nurse to go home, okay?" Blaine nodded, doing as he was told.

Blaine did his best to focus on what Mr. Schuester was teaching. It was a lot easier than some of his other subjects – Spanish had somehow always come a bit easier than anything else, and the words just sort of clicked in his head. But even with things being easier to understand, Blaine still felt himself fighting sleep. Finally he raised his hand, admitting defeat.

"Go ahead, Blaine…" Blaine got up and started towards the door. "Wait… take your homework." Blaine took the worksheet. "Take care of yourself, okay? Don't come back to school until you're ready."


	9. Study Session

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: Another chapter... kind of boring to me, but it'll hopefully get better.**

Blaine's mother had a tendency to fuss over him when he wasn't feeling well, but he was starting to get annoyed with all of the attention she was lavishing on him. "Mom, there is _nothing_ wrong with me… I'm just tired, and all I really want you to do right now is leave me alone so that I can get some rest."

"You don't need anything?"

"I need _sleep_. That's it, Mom." Blaine closed his eyes as his mother pressed a kiss against his forehead.

"Okay. I'm going to go finish some chores and start on dinner. Do you want me to wake you up when it's time to eat, or would you rather just wake up when you wake up?"

"Kurt's coming over after glee to work on homework… I'll get up when he gets here in a few hours." Blaine picked up a pair of pajama pants that had been put on top of his dresser as his mother walked out of the room, changing quickly and climbing into bed so that he could go to sleep.

Blaine didn't remember falling asleep, but he definitely knew that Kurt was there when he woke up. The other boy was kissing him softly, one hand gently stroking over the scars on Blaine's head. "Please don't do that…"

"You've never had a problem with me touching your head before," Kurt commented.

"But before I had hair to cover up those scars… and I don't like the scars. I wish you wouldn't mess with them." Blaine smiled slightly as Kurt's hand moved away from his face. "Thank you."

"I think they're beautiful… they're proof of how strong you are." Blaine sighed, sitting up.

"We should start working… I still have a lot to catch up on," Blaine commented, moving to pick up his backpack.

"I brought the rest of today's assignments for you… figured you wouldn't be happy with me if I didn't. Although I have to admit I was kind of surprised that you let Mr. Schue send you home…"

"He said that he was going to send me home if I started to fall asleep in class… so I voluntarily left before he called me out. I've been asleep since I got home."

"I told you that you needed to go home. If you'd listened to me you would have gotten another thirty minutes of sleep before I got here to help you get caught up."

"Another thirty minutes wouldn't have helped all that much… I've been tired ever since I woke up after surgery, and no matter how much sleep I get it never seems to be enough…"

"You're still healing from surgery… it's normal to be kind of tired for a while."

"It's been two weeks…"

"And you had to deal with an allergic reaction during that time period, too… it's just going to take a little longer than you want it to." Blaine closed his eyes as Kurt pressed a kiss against his forehead. "You'll be okay soon, as long as you make sure you're getting plenty of rest."

"Kurt, I haven't done anything _but_ rest for the past couple of weeks… I stayed in bed, I didn't work myself too hard when I felt up to doing school stuff, I followed doctor's orders. And I'm still getting tired too easily to make it through a day of school."

"It doesn't matter, Blaine… the school isn't going to punish you for still needing some more time off, and most of your teachers are going to help you get caught up without a problem. You have to take care of yourself."

"I know… I know. But it's still frustrating. I feel fine, I just get so tired…" Blaine closed his eyes as Kurt leaned in and pressed a kiss against his lips again. "Mmm… I never get tired of that."

"Hey, hey… none of that," Kurt commented, pulling away. "I'm sure you're too tired for that, too. Besides, you need to focus your energy on schoolwork right now. We can do that later, when you're feeling better." Blaine sighed, grabbing the hat he'd taken to wearing almost constantly and pulling it on.

"Okay… let's go do homework."

"You don't need the hat… it's not like we're going outside to do our homework."

"The kids next door stare whenever they see me… they think it's weird that I'm bald, or something like that," Blaine replied.

"But if we're going to be doing homework in the dining room, why do you have to wear the hat? It's not like they're going to see you…"

"They can look into the windows… and they do. It's kind of annoying, to be honest. I wish they would just _ask_ what's going on instead of staring at me like I'm some kind of freak."

"It's not just the kids next door, is it?" Kurt asked. Blaine sighed, shaking his head.

"It was happening at school, too… I think everyone just sort of assumes that I missed school because I have cancer or something, but no one seems willing to _ask_ what happened. It's like they're all afraid to ask me anything because they think they'll catch whatever I have…"

"But you're not sick…" Kurt began.

"Yeah, well tell that to everyone at school treating me like I'm contagious or something," Blaine replied.

"Blaine…"

"Let's just get to work, okay? I'm still kind of tired, and I have a lot to catch up on…" Blaine got out of bed and started downstairs, with Kurt close behind. Blaine left his school things in the dining room anyway, because that was where he always did his homework after school.

It only took a couple of minutes to get everything set up, and Blaine started working on his pre-calculus homework while Kurt worked through some calculus. The one good thing about Blaine being a year behind his boyfriend was that Kurt could help him through the things he didn't understand.

"It's a two, not a three." Blaine glanced at the number Kurt was pointing to on his paper. He ran through the problem again in his head, checking his math to try and figure out exactly where he'd gotten confused.

"But everything else is right?"

"Yeah. I think you just got the numbers confused." Blaine got back to work, doing his best to work through the rest of the problems from a few days earlier. Three problems in, Blaine dropped his pencil and sighed. "What's wrong?"

"Frustration… I hate math."

"And yet you're in pre-cal and you're most likely going to take AP next year…" Kurt began.

"Because it's expected. Because my parents know I'm capable of doing the work, no matter how much it might frustrate me or drive me insane." Blaine picked up his pencil again, trying to go back to the problem he'd left off on.

"So then why don't you do something else and come back to the math? That way you don't have to do it all at once…"

"If I do that, it'll take me a lot longer to finish it than it normally would. I'm not that great at math… it takes forever."

"And yet you're taking the highest math class you can take without being a senior… I don't buy that you're as bad at math as you seem to think you are," Kurt replied with a smirk.

"It just doesn't come easy… everything else makes sense pretty quickly, but math takes so much more time and effort. It's frustrating…"

"It'll get better… the more you work at it, the easier it'll get."

"If only life worked that way."


	10. More Questions Than Answers

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: So I'm seriously considering trying to wrap this one up… I'm getting bored with it, and I don't really have anywhere for it to go. Plus, NaNoWriMo is coming up VERY soon and I need to work on that!**

Kurt couldn't help but worry when Blaine didn't show up for school the next day and didn't immediately respond to any of his text messages that morning. What did surprise him was seeing Blaine in the choir room after school, talking to Mr. Schuester. "Where have you been? Why haven't you answered any of my text messages?"

"It's nice to see you, too…" Blaine commented. "Last minute trip to Cleveland this morning, I left my phone at home and I still haven't seen it." Kurt could see that Blaine wasn't happy.

"And?"

"It's not as bad as it could have been, but it's not that great…" Kurt reached out and took Blaine's hand, leading him out into the hallway. "Kurt, you should stay for rehearsal… I still need to catch my other teachers and talk to them about make-up work from yesterday and today."

"It can wait, Blaine… are you okay? Really okay?" Kurt watched as Blaine shook his head, sighing.

"They think this is just the beginning… there's no definitive diagnosis because I don't meet the criteria, but the doctors think it's just a matter of time before I start losing my hearing. Then they can make an actual diagnosis."

"But if they can't make the diagnosis, how can they predict what's going to happen?" Kurt asked.

"They found what they were looking for… it's a mutation on a specific gene. One that's known for causing NF 2."

"But if that's the case…"

"It's not one of the criteria for diagnosis… most of the time it's an auditory tumor that causes hearing loss, or a family history. At this point it's a process of elimination, and that's one of the few things left… it's the most logical possibility." Blaine sighed as he heard Mr. Schuester starting glee rehearsal in the choir room. "You should go back to rehearsal… you don't need to miss for me, and I still need to go deal with the homework issue."

Kurt shook his head, taking Blaine's hand. "No… I'm going with you, and when we're done getting your homework we're going to my house and we're going to talk."

"I need to do homework, Kurt… I have so much to get caught up on it isn't even funny, and I'm still trying to process what the doctor said this morning," Blaine commented with a sigh. Kurt leaned in and pressed a kiss against his boyfriend's cheek.

"Okay, fine… but get some rest. And call me tonight." Kurt was surprised when Blaine stopped him before he walked back into the choir room, pulling him back in for another quick kiss. But almost as quickly as he had pulled Kurt close, Blaine was walking away from him again to go finish picking up all of his assignments.

Kurt hadn't really expected to be attacked by the girls as soon as he walked back into the choir room.

"What did he say?"

"Is everything okay?"

"Is Blaine coming back?"

"Ladies! Sit down, let Kurt breathe… we need to get to work, so I'm going to fill everyone else in all at once," Mr. Schuester said from the front of the room, his arms folded. Everyone went to sit down like he'd told them, waiting to hear what was going on. "Blaine is going to be back later this week. It's not cancer, but they don't have an actual diagnosis yet for what's going on with him. For now he's going to be okay, but his doctor's going to keep an eye on him until they know what's going on."

"How can they just not know?" Mercedes asked. "I thought there were tests for everything now, that they would be able to diagnose anything."

"I don't know, Mercedes. But some problems aren't easy to diagnose… it takes time, and a lot of tests."

"So we're just supposed to act like nothing's wrong with Blaine? Like he hasn't been sick?"

"He _hasn't_ been sick. And he wants everyone to treat him like everything is normal, okay? Blaine doesn't want to be sick, and he doesn't want to be given any kind of special treatment, okay?" Kurt crossed his arms as he spoke, hoping that everyone else would listen to what he said. "We need to get started with rehearsal – Sectionals are coming up soon, and we're nowhere near ready."

"Kurt's right, guys… we aren't going to treat Blaine any differently. Now let's get to work… we have a lot that we need to accomplish and we're going to have to work twice as hard when Blaine gets back to make sure he gets caught up with what we're doing. Let's get started."

LINE

Kurt wasn't sure what had prompted him to spend so many hours on the computer the night before, researching everything that he could about the condition Blaine had mentioned before rehearsal. The more he read about what was going on with his boyfriend, the more Kurt wished he had just left it alone and let Blaine tell him what was going on. Some of what he saw looked completely wrong, such as people with strange things growing on their skin – Kurt's research indicated that they had a different sub-type of NF – but some of the people looked almost normal. What worried Kurt the most, though was the section on the first website he looked at talking about hearing loss. Everything he read said that at least some hearing loss was normal, and that it all depended on how quickly the tumors were found and what method the doctor chose to use to remove the tumor.

"You look tired." Kurt looked up from the laptop he'd brought to breakfast at his father's words.

"I was awake most of the night doing some research. I just couldn't stop myself from reading more and more…" Kurt leaned back as his father came around to look at the computer screen.

"This is what they said is wrong with Blaine?"

"They think so… he hasn't started losing his hearing, so they can't say for sure. But there's a specific gene that's linked to NF, and there's something weird about Blaine's."

"So he's going to be dealing with this for the rest of his life…"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"You think you'll be able to handle that?" Burt asked. Kurt shrugged, sighing.

"What choice do I have, Dad? I'm in love with Blaine… that's the most important thing. He's worth having to deal with all of that. As long as we're in love… that's what really matters, right?"

"Right, kid. Love is the most important thing."


	11. I'll Be There For You

_Disclaimer_: I don't own Glee, obviously. Although I'm very happy that the creators are giving both Samuel _and_ Damian a chance. And that we get to see Brittany try to figure out what the hell Damian is saying…

**A/n: Alright… I think this is the end. I finished it before NaNoWriMo, but unfortunately I don't think I'm going to be able to find the time for it this year… I have three major papers to write in that time period, plus student teaching and the busiest time of year for my job (retail… oh joy).**

"I can do it for myself, you know. I'm healthy enough to be at school, and I can certainly carry my own stuff," Blaine muttered, forcing himself not to try and take his bag back from Puck. The football player had taken it almost as soon as Blaine had walked into the building that morning, and Blaine knew that there was no way he was going to get it back before they got to Blaine's classroom.

"Dude, you just had major surgery… you need to take it easy."

"It was two and a half weeks ago, and if I still needed to take it easy I wouldn't be allowed at school."

"Look, I'm just trying to make sure that you're not too tired when classes are over to come to rehearsal… Sectionals is getting closer and closer, and we _need_ you to be well enough to go with us," Puck replied.

"_Please_ tell me that you all haven't somehow figured out a system to carry my books for me from class to class…"

"We're just trying to look out for you…"

"I don't _need_ you to look out for me. I'm doing okay, and nobody is going to mess with the guy that _looks_ sick. The bald thing works in my favor on this one."

"Just accept it, okay man? We make things a little easier for you for a few days, and you keep yourself healthy so that _all_ of us can make it to Nationals. We all want a Nationals win, especially the seniors, and I'm sure you'd like to at least make it to the last competition of the season, right?"

"Right…"

"Then just chill and let us help you out for a few days. Because you aren't going to win this argument… because the entire glee club is in on this, including your boyfriend." Blaine stopped walking at Puck's comment about Kurt.

"_Kurt_ is okay with this?"

"Yeah… it wasn't his idea, but he said that if we can do anything to help you out so that you don't have to miss more school or rehearsals, he'd help," Puck explained.

"Why does it sound like all of you just want me around because of how much it'll help all of you win competitions?"

"Part of the reason we want to win is so that you'll get a chance to go to Nationals… you were willing to let Kurt come back to McKinley so that he could go last year, and he wants you to get a chance to go with us. You need us to get there, and we need you to have the numbers to qualify for any of the competitions."

Blaine sighed, shaking his head and continuing towards his first classroom. It wasn't like he had any other choice – Blaine had to go to classes and he needed to turn in a lot of make up work, not to mention picking up the remainder of the make-up work he needed to do in order to get caught up on his classes. He had a feeling that it was going to be a long day.

LINE

Kurt had sort of expected that Blaine would be upset with him about what was going on at school, but he hadn't expected the boy to still be upset enough to give him the silent treatment at lunch.

"Come on, Blaine… we just wanted to help. Don't ignore me, please…"

"I don't need your help. What I _need_ is for everyone to just leave me be and let me take care of myself," Blaine replied. "I just need to be normal, even if it's only for a little while. And having people from glee club walking me around school carrying my bags is not normal."

"Okay, so I'll call them off, tell everyone else to leave you alone and let you do things for yourself for a while. But I'm not going to apologize for letting them do this in the first place, because I still think that it was a good idea," Kurt replied. "You were exhausted by lunch time the last time you came to school… even if you had managed to make it through classes, you would have had to go home and crash immediately afterwards and you wouldn't have gotten anything done." Kurt knew that he'd made a point when Blaine didn't immediately try to argue with him about that.

"Just tell everyone else to relax, okay? I'm perfectly capable of asking for help if I need it."

"And you will? Seriously?"

"Yes. I'll ask if I need something… which is why I'm asking you to call off the hounds, because that's the only thing I need you to do for me right now," Blaine replied. Kurt sighed, nodding.

"Okay… I'll do it. But that doesn't mean that they won't be checking up on you. I can't stop them from asking you questions." Kurt reached over and took Blaine's hand. "We've just been trying to look out for you. That's all any of us ever wanted to do." He watched as Blaine sighed, shaking his head.

"I know… I'm sorry. I just really hate people making me feel like I'm not capable of doing things for myself. It was bad enough when I actually needed help, but it's worse when I'm perfectly capable of doing things on my own and no one will let me," Blaine replied.

"None of us really understand, you know? You're the first person most of the people in glee club have ever known to deal with something like this other than my dad… he was sick for so long after his heart attack, and that's the only experience any of them have with someone being in the hospital for something major."

"A heart attack is a lot different than a brain tumor… and I'm not sick. The incisions are healing, my hair is growing back, and the only long-term consequence I'm going to have is another scar. And that's going to happen every time I have to have another surgery, and there are probably going to be a lot of them."

"I know. But I'll be there for you… from now on, tell me when you need my help and when you want me to back off, and I'll do it. Whatever it is you need me to do for you, I'll do it," Kurt replied.

"You would be willing to do that for me?"

"I'm in love with you… I would do anything I could for you," Kurt replied with a smile, squeezing Blaine's hand.

"I love you, too."

"Then I'm sure you understand what I mean." Kurt watched as the other boy nodded.

"I do… but sometimes it's nice to be reminded that we love each other." Kurt looked around for a moment, until he was convinced that no one was looking, before he leaned over and pressed a quick kiss against Blaine's lips.

"I love you."


End file.
